A shared commitment and intention towards collaboration in the discipline of psychology was solidified through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between James Cook University in Singapore and the University of Reading Malaysia (UoRM) on 28 February 2019. The MOU consolidates shared visions and aspirational discussions over the past several years and follows on the heels of a collaborative research retreat in Singapore involving both psychology teams, in November 2018.

According to James Cook University’s Deputy Vice Chancellor and Head of Campus, Singapore, Professor Chris Rudd OBE, “Our new partnership with the University of Reading is a wonderful opportunity for our staff and students to work with high quality partners for the benefit of the region. Our complementary facilities and interests provide an excellent opportunity to develop new research challenges and training programmes that exceed considerably what either institution might do on their own. I look forward to a long and fruitful partnership.”

Through the MOU, the Singapore campus of James Cook University and UoRM express their joint intention to engage in a range of activities including the following:

• Discuss and scope collaborative research projects in the discipline of Psychology
• Facilitate collaborative psychology-related research opportunities through instigation of a co-funded research grant initiative
• Collaborate as learning and teaching partners in the delivery of professional development training opportunities for staff and Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students
• Discuss and scope cotutelle supervision arrangements for HDR psychology students, and less formalized co-supervision arrangements for 4th-year psychology Honours and Graduate Diploma research projects
• Engage in benchmarking of research quality of 4th-year psychology theses.

Dr Rachel Pye, Head of Psychology & Clinical Language Sciences and Academic Director of Teaching & Learning at UoRM, referred to the broader potential inherent in establishing this connection between two off-shore campuses of universities based in the UK and Australia.

“We’re very excited to be working with our JCU colleagues to develop research collaborations in psychology between Singapore and Malaysia, as well as our home campuses in the Australia and the UK.  With our excellent staff and facilities, we hope this will be the start of a relationship which is beneficial to our institutions and the communities they serve,” said Dr Pye.

Co-signatory of the MOU on behalf of UoRM, Vice-Provost Dr Samantha Weston, is optimistic about the potential to extend inter-institutional collaborations further, to include other disciplines: “The University of Reading has a global footprint, and is delighted by the formalising of the friendship of our Iskandar Malaysia Campus with JCU’s Singapore campus. We will continue to build upon the relationship that colleagues at UoRM and JCU have worked so hard for in psychology, but are also excited to begin discussions between our two business schools, as well as potential cross-disciplinary research in the future”.

“This MOU with the University of Reading Malaysia is a great example of how the Singapore campus of James Cook University is forming valuable partnerships with likeminded and key institutions to increase research strengths and facilitate professional development of staff”, added Professor Dean Jerry, Dean of Research at James Cook University in Singapore.

For further information on areas of research strength in psychology and future collaborative opportunities at James Cook University in Singapore, view our booklet here.

Contacts

Research: Professor Dean Jerry [email protected]
Media: Pinky Sibal [email protected]